Followers

Recent Events on Blake Hill's 2000's Game History Timeline

Question 1: What were the details of the event?
EA is starting to ship all sports games with a one time use code to unlock online features so people that buy the game used have to pay 10$ for a new code
Question 2: Why was the event important to the industry?
This event is important to the industry because it will affect the sales of the used games being bought. It could even affect some of Gamestop’s business since they make most their profit on used games, but probably not enough to make a significant dent. This could also shape the direction that other publishers go with their games depending upon how well it works causing a trend that will change the way people buy their games.
Wilde, Tyler. (May 11, 2010). EA Sports attacks used game sales by locking online modes. Retrieved from http://www.gamesradar.com/xbox360/madden-nfl-11/news/ea-sports-attacks-used-game-sales-by-locking-online-modes/a-2010051111033926072/g-20100428114840512069

Question 1: What were the details of the event?
Xbox announced that its Xbox Live service is getting ESPN in HD at this years E3.
Question 2: Why was the event important to the industry?
The reason this is so important to the industry because it is taking the gaming online capabilities and adding one more element to them. Pushing the capabilities of what online gaming can offer to gamers. Not only does it change what online gaming on the Xbox has to offer but also it could lead to the cancellation of many gamer’s cable subscriptions affecting the entertainment industry as well as the game industry.
Siegler, MG.( June 14, 2010) Xbox 360 Gets Live Support in HD From ESPN. Retrieved June 25, 2010 from http://techcrunch.com/2010/06/14/xbox-espn/

Question 1: What were the details of the event?
Onlive is a new way to look at gaming. It is a website that lets you stream video games to your computer in HD from the Internet.
Question 2: Why was the event important to the industry?
This is important to the industry because it could change video games forever. Instead of having to go out and buy a console you could just get the newest game right on your computer. Of course that is a big if, because it will take a lot for the consoles to die out, but if they do it well it will for sure have an affect on them.
Silver, Greg. (September 29, 2009). Online Will Revolutionalize the Industry. Retrieved from http://computeraccessories.suite101.com/article.cfm/onlive_will_revolutionalize_the_gaming_industry

Question 1: What were the details of the event?
Midway the creators of Mortal Kombat closes and is bought buy Warner Bros.
Question 2: Why was the event important to the industry?
This event was important to the industry, because it was one of the biggest companies that had been around for a long time closing down. Mortal Kombat had made Midway millions being one of the games to set the stage for some legal battles about video games. To see a company that had so much history in the industry and such an effect, from their arcade game to their console games close down showed companies that no matter how good you were in the past you had to adapt.
Watts, Steve. (July 17, 2009). Midway Closes Corporate Office. Retrieved from http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3175197

Question 1: What were the details of the event?
EA Buys Bioware and Pandemic Studios.
Question 2: Why was the event important to the industry?
This was important to the industry because this was right around the time that Activision bought Blizzard. It also was important because both studios were pretty established companies know for releasing very good games. This helped establish EA with different types of games other than just sports. It gave Ea a foothold in the RPG and action genres.
Crecente, Brian. (October 11, 2007). EA Buys Bioware, Pandemic. Retrieved from http://kotaku.com/309937/ea-buys-bioware-pandemic

Question 1: What were the details of the event?
Activision announced that it was going to buy Blizzard.
Question 2: Why was the event important to the industry?
Why this was event was important to the industry was, because with Activision buying Blizzard, now know as Activision Blizzard, it made Activision the largest 3rd party publisher in the world with a revenue of 3.8 billion dollars surpassing EA. A lot of that coming from the income that Blizzard grosses from the game World of Warcraft.
(December 2, 2007). Activision Buys Blizzard (or the other way around). Retrieved from http://blog.gameshadow.com/index.php/blizzard-buys-activision-or-the-other-way-round/

Question 1: What were the details of the event?
The Xbox 360 launches, but they do it with flawed machines. Mysteriously, 360’s everywhere would flash 3 red lights, later giving way to the name the red ring of death. Once you saw the ring of death your system was done and there was nothing you could do but send it in for repairs.
Question 2: Why was the event important to the industry?
This was important to the industry because it hurt the sells of the 360 costing Microsoft over 1.15 billion dollars in repairs for the flawed machine. Not only did this hurt the sells, but it also hurt Microsoft’s image and reputation causing damage that some gamers will never forgive.
Takahashi, Dean. (September 5, 2008) Xbox 360 defects: An Inside History of Microsoft’s Video Game Console Woes Retrieved http://games.venturebeat.com/2008/09/05/xbox-360-defects-an-inside-history-of-microsofts-video-game-console-woes/

Question 1: What were the details of the event?
The Unreal Engine was a game engine created by epic for the game Unreal back into 1998. The engine has had several releases, the most recent being Unreal Engine 3 released in 2005. Unreal 3 was designed for the next-gen consoles and soon begin a takeover becoming the engine of choice for many development companies
Question 2: Why was the event important to the industry?
This was important to the industry, because it proved just how universal an engine could be. Unreal 3 became an engine that many could use without having to use very much code, making it user friendly to many designers. It also showed that an engine could be a huge source of income for a company, as Epic as cashed in licensing the engine to all the developers. Other companies have started to make their own engines, trying to recreate the easy of use that the Unreal Engine 3 has; For example Crytek is one example that I know of who is creating an engine that they say “is an Unreal killer.”
Thomsen, Mike. (February 23, 2010) History of the Unreal Engine. Retrieved http://pc.ign.com/articles/107/1071338p1.html

2004
Question 1: What were the details of the event?
Acclaim who got its start with the NBA Jam closed it doors and filed for bankruptcy because it could not renew a loan with GMAC Commercial Finance. Acclaim had to let all of it 600 employees go.
Question 2: Why was the event important to the industry?
This event was important to the industry because it was a big company going under. At this time it seemed that a lot of the big names were having a hard time getting by and with Acclaim closing down it was a sign of just how bad it could get.
Perry, C. Douglas. (August 30, 2004) Acclaim to File For Bankruptcy. Retrieved from http://ps2.ign.com/articles/543/543188p1.html

Question 1: What were the details of the event?
Square properly know as Squaresoft, and mostly know for their Final Fantasy series merge with Enix, who are know for their Dragon Quest, series their biggest competition in Japan.
Question 2: Why was the event important to the industry?
It was important to the industry because it was 2 of the biggest JRPG franchise merging together giving the fans of RPGs something to rejoice at. It was also a move that kept Squaresoft from having to file for bankruptcy, so in turn it kept one of the biggest RPG companies alive.
Perry, C. Douglas. (January 19 2010). The Decade in Review: Videogames 2000-2009, Part 1. Retrieved from http://gameinsano.com/2010/01/19/the-decade-in-review-videogames-2000-2009-part-1/